cubik

I’m glad to hear that it’s grown on you, I’m hoping I feel the same way after a few days with it.

I’ve thought about this a little more and while the loudness war definitely does have some impact on the quality of modern recording, the issues with DM’s 21st century output sounding so one dimensional is a purely artistic choice. DM and their production teams are the ones choosing the instruments, effects and arrangements. It’s a conscious decision to move away from the varied sampled sounds of old and towards a distorted guitar, modular synth plus effects pedals aesthetic. There are still some interesting sounds in the mix but they feel buried deep down, relegated to background clips and bleeps.

Ouch! That dynamic range comparison says a lot about modern recordings, and also goes a way towards explaining why DM's newer stuff just sounds so flat. When Playing the Angel came out in 2005, it was used as a textbook example of the loudness wars.

I'm one listen in so far and other than the two tracks that were already released, I agree with you. I liked Ghosts Again from the first hearing, My Cosmos is Mine took a few goes to bed in but is OK. The rest of the album might be a grower but I'm not expecting miracles. Apart from a couple of standout low points, it all blends into one. It's the same as the last few albums, you could play them on shuffle and not find a change in the sound from song to song. Crunchy, grungy, compressed, distorted,etc. If someone told me this was a load of unreleased tracks from the previous album, I'd believe them. The low points are Don't Say You Love Me (especially Dave's strained "IIIIIIIII" at the start of a few lines and the lyrics to Caroline's Monkey. Wagging Tongue starts off interesting but the main synth just sticks with a basic arpeggio that sounds like it's lifted from a 90s demoscene intro. The melody of the chorus on that song really reminds of something else and it's bugging me what it is. I avoided reading any reviews but had seen quite a few review headlines that indicated this would be a 4 out of 5 album, which is bloody good for DM in the music press. I wonder if the critics might have gone easy on them because of Andy's death. The latest DM album that I play regularly is Ultra, which came out in 1997. The albums since have had some great tracks on them, but those are in the minority and I don't often listen to the full albums from start to finish. That means that for me, DM have been a bit meh for much longer than they were great. That's quite depressing. I'll stick with it, I'm certain it's not a classic but hoping that there'll be a few tracks that will make their way into my DM in the 21st Century playlist.

Ridge 4 is listed on the What's New page: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/ps-plus/whats-new/? but I can't find a download link anywhere. Searching for it gives random results of other games with a 4 in the name. It's an absolutely rubbish online store. Even the A-Z list of classics is just text, Sony couldn't even be arsed to make them hyperlinks to the actual games. https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/ps-plus/games/#classics-cat-a-z edit - Found it via google and search in the store seems to be working now too. https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP0700-CUSA33747_00-SCES017060000000

Wow, that's been a real cornerstone of the internet forever and the first place I've looked for camera reviews & comments. One of those websites that still feels like websites used to - Informative and niche without being completely ruined by intrusive ads and clickbait headlines. It's not surprising that Amazon would shut them down, shame that someone else can't take it off their hands though.

No dodgy downloads for me, I’m waiting till Friday. No spoilers please!

Mark Oliver Everett (E from Eels) book Things The Grandchildren Should Know is great. There's a lot of death and sadness in his background but he writes about it with charm and humour.

Much too young, loved him in the Horizon games.

A few days on and My Cosmos Is Mine has really grown on me. My initial review was written straight after a single listen. I don’t know if it’s a case of me willing it to be good, some kind of weird Stockholm Syndrome type thing where I’m trapped in a lifelong fandom of DM or if it’s just one of those tracks that needs a few listens to bed in. Headphones help as there is a lot of depth and detail to the production, this sounds like a cliche but now I know the layers are there it sounds good on my stereo too. The Martin vocals are still jarring, but do have more of a feel of the abstract vocals from PIMPF as opposed to “the train is coming” which is DM’s worst lyrical moment in a recent single. Still not convinced it’s the right choice as an album opener but it would definitely be a decent closing track. 10 days till we find out if it’s Memento Moriesh or Memento Moribund

Some shops have announced prices for their releases. I hope you've been saving up. There's some discussion about them part way down this page here: By discussion I mean mostly me whinging about prices.

On a more positive note I just saw this which contains a spoiler of an album review:

Hopefully it's a grower as my first impressions aren't great. I really liked Ghosts Again from first listen. It's dark and moody and that's about it - Still got that crunchy sound that made the last few albums blend into one homogeneous distorted stew. I genuinely lost track of where it was going a few times (if that makes sense) as there's not much of an obvious melody. It feels like more of an experiment in texture than an actual song. It could also really do without Martin's rhyming dictionary bit, that was the low point. Agree with the comment above about it being brave to open an album with this. Maybe I'll change my mind but on one listen so far it's B-Side material to me.

Game player here who completed TLOU many years ago and has forgotten a lot of the plot points since. That was bloody fantastic. Bella Ramsey deserves all the awards for her performance in this show. My only concern is wrapping it up in the single remaining episode without rushing things. I obviously remember the ending, but I don't know how close the game was to the ultimate conclusion at this point.

I've got the original vinyl of 3 Feet High and Rising plus the CD which is also ripped so I don't really need the streaming versions but being the lazy person I am, just had a listen via Spotify as it was the easiest option. There's a few differences here and there and I can't tell if some are just my memory playing tricks on me or remastering making things sound a little different. The crimes against Cool Breeze on the Rocks are beyond reproach though. I understand why as it was probably the worst track to get clearances for but it just feels so wrong.